No. 8 Gotham FC's results disparity deepened this week, as the NJ/NY club claimed all three points off Liga MX side Monterrey in Wednesday's Concacaf W Champions Cup group-stage play after falling 2-1 to the No. 11 Houston Dash last Sunday — leaving the 2023 league champs without an NWSL win since late June.
Gotham has struggled in the league since returning from summer break, entering the match weekend with two draws in addition to Sunday's upset — fueled in part by veteran defender Emily Sonnett's own goal — under their belts this month.
"We try to always look at the glass half full instead of half empty," head coach Juan Carlos Amorós said after last weekend's loss. "Football sometimes throws you some difficult curves."
Now hitting the pitch on short rest, Gotham will aim to take advantage of the last-place Utah Royals on Saturday as they hunt a boost in the NWSL standings.
With just one regular-season win this year, the No. 14 Royals look ready for an offseason refresh after recently sending star forward Ally Sentnor to the No. 1 Kansas City Current.
"I think we're at 60%," Utah manager Jimmy Coenraets said earlier this week. "The 40% margin is getting people to be able to play 90 minutes in the way that we wanted to play."
How to watch Saturday's Gotham FC vs. Utah Royals FC match
No. 8 Gotham will kick off against the visiting No. 14 Utah Royals at 7:30 PM ET on Saturday.
Live coverage of the match will air on ION.
Following the NWSL attendance record set by Chicago at the historic Wrigley Field in June 2024, Bay FC will gear up to best the Stars' title during this weekend's clash inside another MLB stadium — the San Francisco Giants' Oracle Park.
With over 35,000 tickets already sold, Bay will officially claim the league's single-game attendance record when the No. 11 NWSL club hosts the No. 4 Washington Spirit on Saturday, topping the 35,038 fans who showed up in Chicago last summer.
With a capacity of 40,260 seats, Saturday's match could significantly surpass that June 2024 mark.
The game will also set the attendance record for all US professional women's sports leagues.
"This is a landmark moment not just for Bay FC or the NWSL, but for the future of women's professional sports in the United States," said NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman in a statement. "Breaking the league's single-match attendance record at a venue as iconic as Oracle Park is a testament to the growing demand, passion, and momentum behind our league."
Reflecting the continued growth of the NWSL, the six most-attended matches in league history have occurred in the last four seasons, with markets like San Diego, Seattle, and Chicago all reaching new heights.
"This is about more than just a match, it is about pushing boundaries and creating something bigger than ourselves," noted Bay FC CEO Brady Stewart. "Everyone who is at Oracle Park [on] Saturday has the chance to be part of history and together show the world what's possible in women's sports."
The Orlando Pride hit the headlines on Monday, with the third-place NWSL club reportedly close to finalizing a deal to sign Tigres UANL star Lizbeth Ovalle on a world-record $1.5 million transfer fee.
According to ESPN, the reigning NWSL champions will sign Ovalle to a guaranteed three-year contract, with the transfer fee paid out in three equal annual increments to the Tigres — in part to help Orlando stay under the league's team transfer spending limit.
The Liga MX side reportedly also negotiated a 10% sell-on fee as part of the transfer deal.
Better known to US fans for scoring the first of in Mexico's two goals in El Tri Adelitas' 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup group-stage upset win over the USWNT, the 25-year-old attacker made 58 international caps for Mexico, netting 20 goals in those appearances.
Suiting up for the Tigres since her professional debut as a teenager in 2017, Ovalle has helped her club claim six Liga MX Femenil titles as well as other domestic hardware, including a trio of Campeon de Campeonas trophies.
If the deal goes through, Ovalle's transfer fee will break the current women's soccer record set by Arsenal last month, when the Gunners shelled out over $1.3 million to roster then-Liverpool forward and Canadian international Olivia Smith.
The $1.5 million figure also dwarfs the Pride's previous transfer record, more than doubling the $740,000 Orlando paid Chinese club Shanghai Shengli to sign Zambian star striker Barbra Banda in March 2024.
It's a busy week for some top NWSL teams, as the second edition of the Concacaf W Champions Cup kicks off its 2025/26 group-stage matches on Tuesday night.
Designed to mirror Europe's UEFA Champions League, the Concacaf Champions Cup pits the top clubs from North American leagues in a tournament to determine the continental champion.
This year, a trio of NWSL standouts made the 10-club cut, with last season's top three teams — the Orlando Pride, Washington Spirit, and Gotham FC — in the running for the 2025/26 Concacaf trophy.
Each team will play four group-stage matches over the next two months to determine the four semifinalists who will battle for the trophy in May 2026.
The Champions Cup winners will automatically qualify for the 2026/27 edition of the tournament as well as earn a spot in both the 2027 FIFA Women's Champions Cup and the inaugural FIFA Women's Club World Cup in 2028.
How to watch the NWSL in the Concacaf W Champions Cup
Kicking off this season's Concacaf competition are the 2025 NWSL Challenge Cup champs and 2024 league runners-up Washington Spirit, who will travel south to take on El Salvador's Alianza at 8 PM ET on Tuesday night.
Then on Wednesday, 2024/25 Champions Cup winners Gotham FC will open their title defense by hosting Liga MX Femenil side CF Monterrey at 7 PM ET.
As for reigning NWSL champion Orlando, the Pride will begin their Champions Cup campaign at home next month, facing Costa Rican side Alajuelense at 7 PM ET on September 2nd.
All 2025/26 Concacaf Champions Cup matches will air live on Paramount+.
The No. 13 Chicago Stars earned a dramatic NWSL draw on Monday night, battling back from a three-goal deficit against the No. 6 Seattle Reign — with superstar goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher scoring the stoppage-time equalizer to secure the 3-3 result.
After the entire Seattle frontline of Jess Fishlock, Jordyn Huitema, and Emeri Adames netted early goals, the Stars began chipping away at the Reign's lead, with Chicago forward Ludmila and defender Camryn Biegalski putting their squad within one strike entering second-half stoppage time.
USWNT retiree and Stars captain Naeher then sealed the Chicago comeback with her first-ever NWSL goal, tapping in the ball amid the melee of a last-gasp 99th-minute set piece.
"Chaos kind of sums up our season at this point, the way it finished like that," Naeher said after the match. "You just see the heart in that play."
Multiple staffing changes and on-pitch inconsistencies have seen the Stars struggle this season, with Chicago tallying just one 2025 win so far.
That said, interim head coach Ella Masar has arguably turned the tide, leading the Stars to five draws in their last six games. Masar will soon resume her assistant coach role once new head coaching hire Martin Sjögren's longtime right hand Anders Jacobson arrives to assume interim manager duties.
"That's the belief in this group, that's the mentality," Naeher continued. "We stuck together all season long."
The No. 5 Portland Thorns snagged another result over the weekend, grabbing a point off a 1-1 Saturday draw with the No. 9 North Carolina Courage to further solidify their spot on the NWSL table.
Midfielder Olivia Moultrie opened scoring with a first-half bullet to put Portland up 1-0, before Courage forward Tyler Lussi equalized with a 70th-minute strike.
With her 13th career goal on Saturday, 19-year-old Moultrie became the NWSL's joint-leader in regular-season goals scored by a teenager — sharing the all-time record with North Carolina attacker Jaedyn Shaw.
The Portland Thorns are currently making a case for the league's "best of the rest," after Saturday NWSL action saw the San Diego Wave rocket up the table to No. 2 with a 2-1 win over No. 11 Bay FC while the No. 1 Kansas City Current and now-No. 3 Orlando Pride ended in a 0-0 stalemate.
Despite losing veteran anchors Christine Sinclair, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Meghan Klingenberg to retirement and USWNT star Sophia Wilson to maternity leave, Portland has figured out how to generate new offensive opportunities via young talent like forwards Reilyn Turner and Pietra Tordin.
More experienced midfielders like Moultrie and Sam Coffey are also contributing, with Coffey scoring her second season goal on August 10th to match her entire 2024 total.
As for North Carolina, the questions continue for the Courage as they struggle to stack results amid the abrupt sacking of head coach Sean Nahas earlier this month.
According to a statement released after the Courage's August 8th loss to the then-No. 12 Houston Dash, Nahas was removed due to "confounding performance issues, culture issues, and a perceived lack of fit that created an environment that club leadership felt was untenable to the point that change was necessary at the head coaching position."
How to watch Monday's NWSL match
In a rare Monday matchup, the NWSL's 16th matchday will wrap with the No. 6 Seattle Reign hosting the No. 13 Chicago Stars — with a Reign win sending Seattle above Portland to No. 5 on the NWSL table.
Live coverage of the 10 PM ET match will air on CBS Sports Network.
A top-table battle headlines the NWSL this weekend, as the No. 1 Kansas City Current hosts the No. 2 Orlando Pride for a possible postseason rehearsal on Saturday.
Led by Golden Boot frontrunner Temwa Chawinga, the Current enter the weekend with a full 12-point lead over the rest of the league, as reigning NWSL Shield and Championship winners Orlando push to make a statement.
"We are resilient. That is part of our identity. We never give up and we are always playing to win, and we always believe in ourselves," Pride defender Kylie Nadaner said following last Saturday's 1-1 draw with Racing Louisville.
More than just a clash between the top two teams in the NWSL standings, history shows very little love lost between these perennial heavy-hitters.
Last season, Orlando snapped KC's NWSL-record 17-game unbeaten streak on the Current's home turf, then took Kansas City down again in the pair's 2024 semifinal playoff match.
"We will remember the way they acted after the cameras were off," Current forward Michelle Cooper posted to social media after their July 2024 loss.
Kansas City has already issued some regular-season revenge on their way up the table this year, defeating the Pride 1-0 back in May.
How to watch Kansas City vs. Orlando this NWSL weekend
The No. 1 Current will kick off against the No. 2 Pride at 4 PM ET on Saturday, with live coverage airing on CBS.
The Chicago Stars have landed a head coach, with the NWSL confirming on Wednesday that Hammarby manager Martin Sjögren will join the team when the top-flight Swedish league's season ends in November.
Under Sjögren, Hammarby currently sits second in the Damallsvenskan, with a 2025/26 UEFA Champions League play-in opportunity set for later this month.
No stranger to the global stage, the incoming Chicago Stars coach led the Norway women's national team from 2016 to 2022, leading the Grasshoppers to two group-stage exits at the 2017 and 2022 Euro tournaments as well as a World Cup quarterfinal appearance in 2019.
Calling the NWSL "the most competitive league in the world," Sjögren told The Athletic on Monday that he wants "to build [the Chicago Stars] in a different way," by combining European-style tactics with US soccer's physicality.
"We want to create something sustainable that could be successful," Sjögren explained. "You can always choose to put a lot of money in and buy the best players, but when the money runs out, then you don't have a team anymore."
With just one win on the season, the Stars currently sit 13th on the 2025 NWSL table, with interim managers Masaki Hemmi and Ella Masar splitting coaching duties after Chicago fired head coach Lorne Donaldson in April.
Prior to Sjögren taking the reins ahead of the 2026 NWSL season, his longtime assistant Anders Jacobson will join the Stars "in the coming weeks" to serve as interim manager, with current interim head coach Masar then shifting back into an assistant capacity.
Jacobson will subsequently join Masar as an assistant when Sjögren arrives.
"Martin has been someone I've known and highly respected for almost 10 years," said Masar in a club statement. "Chicago is in good hands."
The first-ever NWSL Rivalry Weekend went off with a bang, with the Portland Thorns emerging as the slates's biggest winner following a definitive 4-2 victory over the Seattle Reign on Sunday.
Four different Thorns goal-scorers found the back of the net to extend Portland's home unbeaten streak to 10 matches.
"Rivalry games are like no other, and to be able to score in front of this crowd was such a great feeling," said Portland forward Pietra Tordin after registering the Thorns' fourth and final goal.
Even more, the result saw the Thorns leapfrog the Reign to claim fifth place in the NWSL standings — the only match to to shift the table all weekend as the bulk of the action ended in draws.
On Saturday, the No. 3 Washington Spirit and No. 8 Gotham FC saw the fireworks fizzle out in a scoreless draw, while a second-half stoppage-time equalizer from No. 11 Angel City's Alanna Kennedy secured the LA side a 1-1 draw with the No. 4 San Diego Wave.
The only other teams to tally three points were Friday victors No. 1 Kansas City and No. 12 Houston, with the Current picking off the No. 14 Utah Royals 1-0 behind star striker Temwa Chawinga's record-breaking goal while the Dash downed the recently coach-less No. 9 North Carolina Courage 2-1.
Call it competitive or call it cagey, but teams across the league have kept scorelines tight and tidy since the NWSL returned to play this month.
2025 NWSL standings: Week 15
1. Kansas City Current (13-2-0)
2. Orlando Pride (8-4-3)
3. Washington Spirit (8-4-3)
4. San Diego Wave FC (7-3-5)
5. Portland Thorns FC (7-4-4)
6. Seattle Reign FC (7-5-3)
7. Racing Louisville FC (6-6-3)
8. Gotham FC (5-5-5)
9. North Carolina Courage (5-6-4)
10. Bay FC (4-6-5)
11. Angel City FC (4-7-4)
12. Houston Dash (4-8-3)
13. Chicago Stars FC (1-9-5)
14. Utah Royals (1-11-3)
It's officially rivalry weekend in the NWSL, as teams lean on regional proximity, competitive history, and plain old bad blood to add an edge to each of the upcoming matchups.
Owing to a full 10-point lead, the No. 1 Kansas City Current are still untouchable at the top of the NWSL standings, but this weekend's games could significantly reshape the rest of the table.
Both old feuds and recent rivalries will be on display across the NWSL — though a few key battles stand out as must-watch showcases of the league's parity:
- No. 8 Gotham FC vs. No. 3 Washington Spirit, Saturday at 12 PM ET (ESPN): The gap in the standings doesn't matter when these title contenders meet, so expect fireworks when stars like Gotham's Rose Lavelle, Esther, and Midge Purce face off against Trinity Rodman and the Spirit.
- No. 4 San Diego Wave vs. No. 11 Angel City FC, Saturday at 10 PM ET (ION): Despite sitting at No. 4 on the table, San Diego has struggled to beat Angel City since 2023 — a trend the LA side hopes to continue in Saturday's battle for SoCal bragging rights.
- No. 6 Portland Thorns vs. No. 5 Seattle Reign, Sunday at 4 PM ET (CBS): The Cascadia Clash is the oldest and most hallowed rivalry in the NWSL, and this season's edition also sees the Pacific Northwest pair locked in a tight playoff race, with the Thorns ready to overtake the Reign with three weekend points.